Body found in Reston identified

Fairfax County Police have identified a body that was found on a Reston path as a California man visiting relatives.

Police said Christoph Walker, 51, from Sacramento, Calif., was visiting a relative in the 11200 block of Harbor Court in Reston. He apparently went out for a run and did not return home.

Police said a Reston resident was walking on a path near French Horn Lane shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 14, when they saw the body of a man lying on some mulch in a children’s playground, near a swing set.

Police said they surmised that Walker had been exercising and appeared to have been either coming to or from the main path. Detectives do not suspect foul play; the exact cause and manner of death are pending an autopsy. Police said Walker’s relatives became concerned and eventually contacted police and identified Walker.

Vienna man sentenced for burglary

A Vienna man was sentenced Jan. 14 to four years in prison for breaking into an Ashburn home and stealing $10,000 in jewelry.

Loudoun Judge Burke F. McCahill sentenced Nicholas Golden, 27, to 10 years with six years suspended in the Virginia Department of Corrections in connection with the January 2012 burglary.

Golden pleaded guilty to felony breaking and entering on Aug. 30 in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

According to reports from the Loudoun Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, Golden was stopped on Jan. 9, 2012, by a Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was responding to reports of a suspicious man walking around the golf course and in between houses in the Belmont area of Ashburn.

Golden told the deputy he was a convicted felon and was on probation for a drug distribution charge.

The deputy searched Golden’s bag and found a Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader and approximately $10,000 worth of jewelry. It was later determined the items were stolen from a house less than a few hundred yards from where Golden was stopped.

McCahill also re-imposed a two year and five month sentence that had been suspended for a 2008 drug distribution charge.

Falls Church man to remain on death row

A Falls Church man’s death row 2008 conviction and sentencing has been upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Virginia Supreme Court Justices on Jan. 10 unanimously rejected several claims and challenges by the attorneys in the case of Mark E. Lawlor, 46. The claims and challenges purported constitutional issues, exclusion of evidence, and other claims.

Lawlor was sentenced to death for the 2008 sexual assault and bludgeoning of a woman who lived in the apartment complex where Lawlor worked as a leasing agent. DNA evidence was a key factor in Lawlor’s implication in the crime.

Two charged in Herndon sex sting

Fairfax County police said two men have been charged in the case of an alleged sex ring discovered in Herndon last month.

Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said that Edwin Barcus and Joshua Dumas, of no fixed address, were charged with sex trafficking after undercover police officers responded to a an advertisement on Backpage.com that allegedly solicited sex.

According to a search warrant filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court, when police arrived for a December appointment at the Hyatt House in Herndon, Barcus and Dumas were charged.

Former teacher charged for child pornography

An Oak Hill man is now being prosecuted on federal charges for possession of child pornography.

Robert C. Fenn, 26, of the 3000 block of Emerald Chase Drive, was indicted Dec. 6 by a federal grand jury on one count of possession and one count of receipt of child pornography.

In June 2012, Fenn was originally charged in Virginia with 10 counts of possession of child pornography when he was still employed as a teacher at Poplar Tree Elementary School.

According to Fairfax County Public Schools, Fenn had worked as a substitute teacher within FCPS since 2009 and had just been hired as a fulltime special education teacher at Poplar Tree when he was originally charged.

Shoe burglary possibly afoot in Chantilly

A Herndon man was allegedly robbed at gunpoint Jan. 13 in Chantilly while trying to sell shoes to a man he met through the Internet.

When the 19-year-old man arrived at 7:50 p.m. at the meeting location at Avonlea Drive and Rowderbury Square he found that two other men had accompanied the buyer, according to Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office reports.

One of the men pulled out a firearm and demanded cash, an iPhone and the shoes. The three then fled the scene on foot.

Fox Mill house fire caused by lingering Christmas tree

A live Christmas tree that may have been left up a little too long was the cause of $125,000 worth of damage to an Oak Hill home, according to fire officials.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department officials said firefighters responded to a house fire Jan. 15 at approximately 3:40 p.m. in the Fox Mill neighborhood in Oak Hill.

Firefighters brought the fire under control in about 35 minutes. No one was home when the fire broke out. The homeowner arrived at the fire scene while firefighters were fighting the fire, officials said.

Two adults and two children have been displaced. Red Cross support was declined. There were no injuries.